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iversified conglomerate PT Astra International and UK-based insurer Aviva International Holdings Ltd. launched on Thursday a joint-venture life insurance company that aims to be one of Indonesia'€™s top five life insurers in the near future.

The company, named PT Astra Aviva Life (Astra Life), is owned 60 percent by Aviva Plc., 25 percent by PT Trimulia Sarana Pratama and 15 percent by PT Asuransi Wahana Tata.

Astra will buy a 50 percent stake in Astra Life '€” 10 percent from Aviva on top of Trimulia and Wahana Tata'€™s entire 40 percent stake in the new insurance company.

'€œAstra and Aviva [will eventually] control 50 percent shares each, with a total equity of Rp 862 billion [US$70.78 million] and 1,800 percent of risk-based capital [RBC], or high above the regulator'€™s requirement of 120 percent,'€ Astra Life president director Philip Willcock told a press briefing.

Astra Life aspired to be one of the top five life insurers in the country as it drew on the strength of its partner companies, Willcock said.

Astra is the country'€™s top automotive producer. It also owns an automotive financing subsidiary and other assets ranging from banking to heavy equipment units. Aviva, meanwhile, has world class technical expertise in insurance, according to Willcock.

Willcock declined to mention the timeframe to become one of the nation'€™s top five life insurance companies, saying: '€œThere will be opportunities for all of the 51 life insurance companies in Indonesia, where the insurance market has below 2 percent-penetration levels.'€

Astra'€™s more than 200,000 employees would be a great opportunity for Astra Life'€™s employee benefit products and services, he added.

Astra Life vice president Auddie A. Wiranata said the company had formulated a number of strategies for products and services with multi-channel distributions, from telemarketing to bancassurance and agents.

Astra Life already has bancassurance deals with 12 banks, including Astra'€™s banking arm Permata Bank, to promote the company'€™s health and life insurance products to the bank'€™s mortgage and savings customers, according to Auddie.

'€œWe already have a call center to start our telemarketing channel and are currently preparing for direct and digital marketing. We will also have agents in the future, but I cannot say when,'€ he said.

He did reveal that the company would be able to engage agents after it reached a critical level of penetration in the market. The company already had around 400,000 existing customers from the former Asuransi Aviva Indonesia, he added.

Auddie said Astra Life had prepared 11 new products for the firs year, although he declined to mention its targets for premiums.

'€œWe will announce later the mix between traditional and existing unit links for the 11 new products,'€ he added.

'€œThe important thing is that we will establish ourselves in a number of segments, including micro insurance products. We are currently in the process of writing a letter of intent to the Financial Services Authority [OJK] for our micro product,'€ Auddie said.

Astra and Aviva signed a conditional shareholder agreement and a share purchase agreement on Jan. 17 this year. Regulatory approval was obtained in April and transactions were completed on May 26 this year. On Aug. 13, OJK approved the business license for the company.